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Takeaway at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, E15

Sam Marlowe

June 21 2011, 1:01am, The Times

With Angela (Gabby Wong), the political Chinese fireband, Eddie (Stephen Hoo) is a left-wing studentMarilyn Kingwill

It’s as garish and tacky as a cheap takeaway menu, but this new musical by Robert Lee and Leon Ko is also brave, exuberant and outrageously funny. With a young hero who is British-Chinese — a group rarely represented on our stages — the show takes a cross-section of multicultural modern London and spares no one a ribbing. Its blatant disregard for political correctness is exhilarating, moderated by an even-handed generosity of spirit. And Kerry Michael’s production is a blast — despite the show being as big a mess as chop suey and chips, with a plot that meanders all over the place. Yet there’s a breakneck pace to the absurdities it dishes up that makes them irresistible.